Transparent InO (Indium oxide) thin-film transistors fabricated by reactive ratio frequency (rf) magnetron sputtering at room temperature were demonstrated on glass and plastic substrates. The resistivity, transmittance, X-ray diffraction pattern, and surface morphology of the films prepared at a 50% oxygen partial pressure were investigated, the resistivity and the average transmittance of the films were 4.2¡Ñ104 £[-cm and 87 %, respectively. In addition, Indium tin oxide (ITO) and silicon nitride (SiNX) thin films were used as the electrode and gate insulator. The resistivity and the average transmittance of ITO electrodes were 7¡Ñ10-4 £[-cm and 85%. On the other hand, the maximum leakage current of less than 10-9A/cm2 was obtained for the SiNX layer at an electric field of 1 MV/cm. For the InO TFT on glass substrate with 6 £gm channel length and 20 £gm channel width, the measured saturation mobility, threshold voltage, on/off ratio and subthreshold swing are 9.39V-1s-1, 1.5V, 2.2¡Ñ107and 0.5 V/decade. For the TFTs prepared on plastic substrate, the measured saturation mobility, threshold voltage, on/off ratio and subthreshold swing are 8.19V-1s-1, 1.83V, 1.43.¡Ñ106and 0.8 V/decade, respectively.

Experimental studies have shown that the yield strength of many important engineering materials such as polymers, ceramics and metallic glasses is dependent on hydrostatic stress. In addition, these materials may also exhibit plastic dilatancy. These deviations from the assumptions of classical plasticity theories have also been observed for some metallic alloys, although to a lesser extent compared to non-metals. In pressure independent plastic solids, it has been found that the level of crack tip constraint can affect the near-tip stress and deformation fields and hence the fracture resistance. The objective of the present work is to study the effects of pressure sensitive yielding, plastic dilatancy and constraint loss on the ductile fracture processes under mode-I conditions. Further, the three-dimensional (3D) structure of elastic-plastic near-crack front fields in a pressure independent plastic solid under mixed mode (combined modes I and II) loading is also examined. A finite element study of 3D crack tip fields in pressure sensitive plastic solids under mode-I, small scale yielding (SSY) conditions is first carried out. The material is assumed to obey a small strain, Extended Drucker-Prager (EDP)yield criterion. The roles of pressure sensitive yielding, plastic dilatancy and yield locus shape on the 3D plastic zone development and near-crack front fields are systematically investigated. It is found that while pressure sensitivity leads to a significant drop in the hydrostatic stress all along the 3D crack front, it enhances the plastic strain and crack opening displacements. However, plastic incompressibility results in elevation of both near-tip hydrostatic stress and notch opening. The implications of these observations on micro-void growth and interaction near a notch tip are studied in detail subsequently. The effects of constraint loss on void growth near a notch tip under mode-I loading in materials exhibiting pressure sensitive yielding and plastic dilatancy are investigated by performing large deformation elastic-plastic finite element analyses. To this end, two-dimensional (2D)plane strain and 3Dmodified boundary layer formulations are employed by prescribing the elastic K-T field as remote boundary conditions. The results are generated for different combinations of K (or J ) and T -stress. The material is assumed to obey a finite strain, EDP yield condition. The distributions of hydrostatic stress and plastic strain in the ligament connecting the notch and a nearby void (cylindrical or spherical) as well as the growth of the notch and the void are studied. The results show that void growth with respect to J is enhanced due to pressure sensitivity, and more so when the plastic flow is non-dilatational, which corroborates with the trends exhibited by the 3D crack tip fields. However, the evolution of ductile fracture processes like void growth, plastic strain localization and ligament length reduction with respect to J is retarded in the case of spherical voids. Further, irrespective of pressure sensitivity, loss of crack tip constraint can significantly slow down void growth. The effects of pressure sensitive yielding and plastic dilatancy on near-tip void growth and multiple void interaction mechanisms in single edge notched bend (SENB) and center cracked tension (CCT) specimens which display high and low constraint levels, respectively, are investigated next. It is observed that the latter mechanism which is favored by high initial porosity is further accelerated by pressure sensitive yielding and high constraint. The predicted resistance curves based on a simple void coalescence mechanism show enhancement in fracture resistance when constraint level is low and when pressure sensitivity is suppressed. Finally, detailed elastic-plastic finite element simulations are carried out using a boundary layer (SSY) formulation to investigate the 3D nature of near-crack front fields in a von Mises solid under mixed mode (combined modes I and II)loading. The plastic zones and radial, angular and thickness variations of the stresses are studied corresponding to different levels of remote elastic mode mixity and applied load, as measured by the plastic zone size with respect to the plate thickness. The 3D results are compared with those obtained from 2D simulations and asymptotic solutions to establish the validity of 2D plane stress and plane strain approximations near a crack front. It is found that, in general, plane stress conditions prevail at a distance from the crack front exceeding half the plate thickness, although it could be slightly smaller for mode-II predominant loading.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 1999. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 232-244). Available also in a digital version from Dissertation Abstracts.

Thesis (M.S.)--West Virginia University, 2002. / Title from document title page. Document formatted into pages; contains viii, 152 p. : ill. (some col.). Vita. Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (p. 87-91).

Thesis (M.S.)--Florida State University, 2004. / Advisor: Dr. Gary Peterson, Florida State University, College of Education, Dept. of Educational Psychology and Learning Systems. Title and description from dissertation home page (viewed 6/15/04). Includes bibliographical references.

It is incumbent upon teachers to reach out to students through methods that capitalize on the students' own motivations. Because of the diversity of self-referential personal styles of learning, reaching every student with a cookie-cutter approach to teaching is nearly impossible. This report explores the application of a type of problem-based learning known as "Legacy Cycles" that apply web technology to answer challenges presented as scenarios. The scenarios give students a similar experience to scientists pursuing investigation and research. Students then search for answers to questions, learn more about the processes being taught with hands-on activities, and prepare a product to demonstrate mastery of the content. In this example of the Legacy Cycle, three challenges are used to teach concepts of density, ocean currents and plastic pollution. / text

published_or_final_version / Environmental Management / Master / Master of Science in Environmental Management

published_or_final_version / Mechanical Engineering / Master / Master of Philosophy

Nanostructured materials have attracted intensive scientific interests during the past two decades due to their outstanding physical and mechanical properties. However, the brittleness of nanostructured materials posed a great challenge for their engineering applications. Recently, several strategies were successfully adopted to produce nanostructured materials with both high strength and ductility such as surface-nanocrystallized (SNC) materials, nanocrystalline materials with stress-induced nanograin growth and nanotwinned metals. A lot of molecular dynamics (MD) simulations, modelling and experiments have been conducted to investigate the deformation mechanisms and the correlated exceptional mechanical properties and considerable progress has been made. However, some problems remain unsolved. For example, the complicated structure of SNC materials due to its grain size gradient (GSG) surface layer makes it difficult to establish a quantitative model for prediction of their strength and ductility; the main mode of nanograin growth in nanostructured materials, i.e., shear-coupled migration of grain boundaries (GBs), was experimentally observed as contributing to their enhanced ductility, but the mechanism of the enhancement remains unclear. In addition, there exist contradictory results for the grain size dependence of transitional twin thickness that corresponds to the maximum strength of nanotwinned metals. All these issues should be addressed to gain a better understanding of the mechanism-ductility correlation in order to provide some guidelines for designing lighter, stronger and ductile nanostructured materials. Therefore, an attempt was made to study the plastic deformation of nanostructured materials with high strength and ductility by theoretical modelling and numerical simulations. Firstly, the enhanced balance of strength and ductility of SNC materials was studied using a combination of theoretical analysis and finite element simulation. A criterion was established for determining the ductility of SNC materials. The results obtained showed that the ductility of a SNC sample could be comparable to that of its coarse-grained counterpart, while it simultaneously possessed a much higher strength than that of the latter if optimal GSG thickness and topmost phase grain size were adopted. Then a dislocation-density-based model was proposed to quantitatively predict the plastic deformation of SNC materials; the stress-driven nanograin growth was also incorporated in the said model. The capability of the model in predicting the strength and work hardening of SNC materials was validated by the existing experimental results. Thirdly, physical models for shear-coupled migration of GBs in nanostructured materials were developed to explain the general coupling between the shear and the normal migration of GBs observed in MD simulations and experiments. The coupled migration process was found to be a general and effective toughening mechanism in nanostructured materials. Moreover, our study showed that the shear-coupled migration is able to enhance the intrinsic ductility considerably when it cooperates with GB sliding. Finally, an elastic-viscoplastic constitutive model based on the competition of intra-twin and twin-boundary-mediated deformation mechanisms was proposed to predict the grain size dependent transitional twin thickness of nanotwinned metals. A linear relation between the transitional twin thickness and the grain size was predicted, which was in excellent agreement with the results obtained from MD simulations and experiments available in the literatures. / published_or_final_version / Mechanical Engineering / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

Corrosion presents one of the greatest threats to the durability of reinforced concrete structures, yet it is also one of the least understood components of the design process for most engineers. The nation's infrastructure is rapidly deteriorating due to years of abuse and fatigue. Therefore, several economic and reliable solutions have been developed to repair the existing damage and extend the design life of structures at risk of corrosion. One popular method for protecting concrete structures from corrosion is the use of fiber-reinforced plastic (FRP) composite wraps. The premise is a simple one: placing an impermeable barrier around the surface of the concrete should prevent harmful substances such as chlorides from entering and corroding the imbedded reinforcing steel. However, little is known about the long-term effectiveness in preventing corrosion in reinforced concrete structures. The FRP wrap may in fact prevent the chlorides from passing through the concrete, however, the same principle might cause chlorides to be trapped beneath the surface and accelerate corrosion. In this study, the long-term behavior of laboratory specimens exposed to an aggressive chloride-rich environment were examined. This project was designed to develop a greater understanding of the long-term effects of FRP wrapping in preventing corrosion in reinforced concrete structures. Although TxDOT project 0_1774 involves both rectangular and cylindrical specimens, the focus of this thesis is on the specific impact of FRP wraps on partially wrapped versus unwrapped columns. The specimens included in this study are comprised of a wide range of construction parameters. However, despite the multitude of varying mix designs a noticeable trend has emerged as a result of this research. / text